Diana Arbenina’s concert in Tomsk was canceled due to “dozens of mourners”

The organizers canceled the concert of the leader of the group “Night snipers” Diana Arbenina in Tomsk, which was supposed to take place on November 23. In October, she married the wife of a participant in the war in Ukraine, although in 2022 she opposed the Russian invasion.

Arbenina reported in her Telegram channel that the management of the platform unilaterally terminated the contract without giving an explanation. She apologized to the audience for “deluded hopes”. “Tomsk has always been and remains an advanced city with a wonderful young audience,” the artist wrote.

The decision to cancel was made by the management of the regional Palace of Sports in Tomsk. “When it became known about the concert, we and the Palace began to receive appeals from the public complaining about the singer’s allegedly incorrect statements regarding the current situation. As a result, the Palace of Sports decided not to hold the concert,” said the acting director. Yelena Shagova, Head of the Culture Department of the Tomsk Region, “Interfax”.

According to her, “several dozens of complaints” have been received.

“Initially, we replied that the singer performed in other cities without any problems and even sang songs with the wife of a participant of the SVO, but the reverse flow did not stop. The Palace of Sports also received such letters,” said Shagova.

On October 22, at a concert in Novosibirsk, Diana Arbenina invited the wife of a Russian soldier who took part in the invasion of Ukraine to the stage and performed her song “A second back” together with her. Later, Arbenina wrote on Instagram that representatives of the “Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland” came to her for a concert in Novosibirsk, who showed her photos of their dead sons.

Later, a deputy of the city council of Krasnoyarsk, Vyacheslav Dyukov, appealed to the mayor’s office to cancel the concerts of the singer Diana Arbenina on November 26. Dyukov stated that Arbenina did not support the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and also refused to speak to wounded Russian soldiers during the full-scale invasion. The city hall replied that they cannot “interfere in the creative activity of citizens” and “give an assessment of their song repertoire.”

• With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Diana Arbenyna spoke out against the war and performed the anti-war song “Don’t be silent” at one of her concerts. After that, dozens of “Night Snipers” performances in Russian cities were canceled, and in the spring of 2023, pro-Kremlin activist Vitaliy Borodin appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request to check Arbenina for violating the article of the Criminal Code on the discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces.